Name: How to feel alive again (It’s not what you think)
Uploaded: 2025-03-15T10:27:06.000Z
Duration: 17 min 53 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

What if I told you that every day, something is quietly stealing your life?

Not just your time, but your experiences, your growth, your memories, and even your relationships.

Studies show that people check their phones an average of 144 times a day.

That's like approximately once every 10 minutes you are awake.

When I looked at my screen time report and saw 8 hours daily, I was shocked.

But I convinced myself that it wasn't that bad, you know, like everyone's doing it.

But then, I did the math. 8 hours a day is 56 hours every week.

And almost like 3000 hours a year, that's like 124 days. 4 entire months of my year, gone.

You know that feeling, like you're lying in a bed, scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, or whatever app you choose, for the third hour, and you suddenly feel this wave of emptiness.

You know, you think like, where did the weekend go?

Why do I feel like I've done nothing with my life?

I call it the Sunday night regret syndrome, because it happens to me every single Sunday.

And it actually happened to me like gradually, you know, my friends would text asking to grab a dinner or catch a movie.

And then I would say like, I'll let you know, and then completely forget as I fell into another scrolling hole.

And after a while, the invitations slowed, then stopped altogether.

Like it wasn't until I messaged a friend about weekend plans and got the response of like, oh, we stopped asking you months ago, that I realized what I've done.

I had traded real connections for digital ones.

And you might be experiencing digital theft if you say, I don't have time for things you care about, but somehow find hours for scrolling.

You try to cut back, but find yourself right back at it a few days later.

You feel physically tired, but can't sleep without checking your phone one last time before going to bed.

Or you're often physically present, but mentally elsewhere.

We tell ourselves so many lies to justify this behavior, right?

But there's no such thing as quick check, is there?

But do you really need to check it at dinner?

But why do you feel more drained afterward?

What's really happening is that each notification, each vibration hijacks our attention.

And research shows that it takes an average of like 23 minutes to fully refocus after an interruption.

So that like two second check actually costs you much more.

And here's what the most digital detox advice gets wrong.

They focus on what you are losing rather than what you are gaining.

They treat the symptom without addressing the cause.

So today I'm going to share what actually worked for me, not just to use my phone less, but to feel more alive in the time I've reclaimed.

I actually like cut my screen time in half from 8 hours to 4 hours.

And I'm still working on it because 4 hours is still a lot in my opinion.

But even that change has transformed my life in a ways I never expected.

Let's just jump into like immediate actionable things that you can start doing from today.

Because there's no meaning if I'm like talking and talking and talking and then, you know, you get nothing that you can apply right now.

First, let's tackle the notification audit.

Right now your phone is hijacking your attention, according to a research, 144 times a day, fragmenting your focus and destroying your productivity.

Go into your settings right now and turn off all notifications.

Accept calls and text from actual humans who matter to you.

Not groups, not apps, not emails, just direct human connection.

Okay, like this simple step actually reduces the attention residue effect that's making it hard for you to concentrate on anything meaningful, especially if you have Apple Watch.

Second, schedule dedicated communication blocks.

When you constantly check messages throughout the day, you are never fully present anywhere.

Instead, block two to three specific times in your calendar.

I recommend like one in the morning, one during midday and one around like evening time for checking and responding to all messages.

During these like 15 minute blocks, you are fully engaged with communication.

And outside of these blocks, you are fully present in your own life.

Like this prevents the exhausting context switching that is depleting your mental energy.

And it also helps you to get through your messages, like all of them.

Because I used to look at my like notifications, especially after I got like Apple Watch, I was constantly getting a notification.

I would be like, oh, I need to reply to that, I need to reply to that.

But now, because I have like dedicated time blocks to replying people, now I am fine with just not replying right away because I know I have a block to respond to that person, you know.

I am more able to focus on whatever I'm doing right now because it doesn't matter and I don't get that notification.

Third, use technology to fight technology.

So I personally use Apollo and it helps you like block distracting apps during specific time periods.

One is working time block and the other one is deep focus at night time.

And one thing that I actually love about Apollo is that you can do it with your friends.

And it's, I think, more like fun to block apps with your friends and turn it into a challenge.

And you can have like same blocks together, for example, during dinner time and use that like blocked time with no phone time together and spend it to deepen your relationships, to actually have a conversation during dinner or lunchtime.

And like you can see each other's screen time too.

So it becomes kind of like a challenge and I personally really love it.

And I'm not sponsored, I just love Apollo, okay?

And the fourth one is establish a one hour no phone zone today.

You know, choose a specific hour, perhaps maybe dinner time or first hour after work or maybe before going to bed and physically place your phone in another room with notifications off.

Like take your time to enjoy your dinner with your family or with friends or even alone, you know, like we need some time alone.

Take this time to actually deepen your connection with others or with your own thoughts.

The next one is to redesign your morning routine.

Like your brain is most receptive and creative in the first 30 minutes after waking up, according to research, I don't know.

And most of us waste this neurological goldmine on emails and social media.

So instead, I want you to try this, okay?

When you wake up tomorrow, before reaching your phone, sit up fully in your bed or like, I don't know, feet on the floor and take some deep breaths while mentally scanning what matters today.

I know it sounds cheesy, but stay with me, it works, okay?

And identify one specific thing you actually want to accomplish or experience.

And only then, if you need to check your phone, set a timer for five minutes to prevent the morning scroll trap.

Or if you're lazy like me, you can set this on opal and have like a dedicated block time for morning routine that allows you to check your phone only for like a limited time before blocking the apps again.

It does it automatically and you don't have to like schedule it again and again.

And like doing this simple practice reclaims your most valuable mental real estate and sets an intentional direction for your day.

I feel like it's one of the easy fixes that really transformed my mornings.

The another one that I want you to do is that a phone-free wind down.

You can also set up a wind down like night time opal deep focus block which doesn't allow you to like open any apps and it also protects you from deleting the app.

So if you even like delete the opal, it will still keep blocking the apps which helped me a lot.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

How to feel alive again (It’s not what you think)

constantly

specific

discipline

mental